Entries in preschool play
(45)

Avery has been to a farmers' market a few times and I thought it would be fun to set up her own farmers' market stand at home (another opportunity for collaborative pretend play). She also helped in categorizing the produce (fruits vs. vegetables) and sorting by color. Avery loved looking through and listening to A Day at the Market.

Sara Anderson brings to life the buzz and energy of a farmers' market with beautiful color and her modern paper-cut style. The die-cut pages add a fun dynamic and interesting flow to the story and the clever rhymes and dialogue keep little ones engaged.

After telling her a few details about our honey and cheese party, I asked Avery if she wanted to have her own party. Her reply was, "Cheese, honey. That sounds like fun!" Avery loved drizzling honey over her cheese sandwich and ate almost all of it.

The Car Transporter, hand-painted and assembled in Poland by Bajo, has beautiful, sturdy construction, smooth textures and is painted in bright primary colors. The transporter takes two little cars where they need to go, whether it be from room to room or across the rug. The soft, smooth surfaces and rounded edges are perfect and gentle for a toddler or preschooler's hands. Stack up some blocks to make a cityscape, lay down a washi tape road and now all you need is someone to direct traffic! Washi tape road found via Apartment Therapy Family. Thanks to Land of Nod for sending us the Car Transporter.

Collaborative pretend play (also called "dramatic play") is essential for building language, learning everyday scripts, rules of play and social norms, perspective-taking, turn-taking and a host of other important early childhood skills. I thought Avery would love running a bakery,so I gathered all of her pretend baked goods which included an assortment of breads, cupcakes, a cake and a pie. I also threw in a couple of strawberries, measuring spoons and jars of jam and honey. A couple of other details that helped complete Avery's bakery counter wereNod blocksspelling out theword "bakery,"abellfor customers to ring and hanging oven mitts. Arainbow felt garlandadded some colorful whimsy to the setting as well. We talked about the kinds of items that bakeries sell and how customers visit and buy things with money.